Name: Betsy Marshall
Hometown: Charlotte, NC
Major: History
Minor: Environmental Minor
PCC Affiliation: Connor House
Campus Involvement: Past Honor Council Student Solicitor, current Senior Class Gift Chair, trip leader for Davidson Outdoors, orientation team leader, Leadership Equity Justice member (a group that brings together a diverse set of people for intentional dialogues on race), and IMO Sports Enthusiast, particularly women’s 5×5 basketball.
On the history/environmental combination: I wrote my thesis last semester on the history of the American chestnut. I really like trees.
So what’s the name of your IMO basketball team? Well, my freshmen year we named our team “Bye Week,” so on the schedule it would say that your team had a bye. Our very first game freshmen year we played the women’s soccer team and they didn’t show up, so we won off of forfeit. The next year we were “No Game This Week,” then “Cancelled,” and “Bye Week” again. It’s my favorite thing I’ve pulled at Davidson.
Favorite emoji: I really like the variety of wildcat faces, because I love Davidson so much. I also really like the nature ones. I use those a lot. But I’m not a huge emoji girl. I like words. I’m a terrible texter though. If I get a text, I’ll either respond to it right away, or I’ll get back in a couple of days.
So you just got a Fulbright! I did! I’m headed to Malaysia to teach English in January.
Why Malaysia? So, a few reasons. The Fulbright program actually sends a lot of people there, so I knew my odds would be a little bit better if I went there. They also have the fastest growing population in the world and are a biodiversity hotspot, so as they wrestle with questions of development, there is a lot at stake. There is also a very diverse population and they have a lot of different religions, which actually means they are the country that has the second highest number of vacations during the school year, because they have a lot of holidays to celebrate, which means more opportunity for me to travel. And I just wanted to mix it up and do something different. I’m not sure where in the country I’ll be placed yet. I’ll find out when I get there. I have no idea what I’m getting myself into, but I’m really excited.
Betsy on an elephant in South Asia while she was abroad in India.
And until January…I’m going to be sticking around here at Davidson this summer as the Interim Director of Sustainability and doing that until September when the new person is coming in. So I have to figure out what to do from September until December. But I think I want to do something wacky, like get a weird internship. Having some time that doesn’t have to be a resume booster will be really nice.
What do you think you’ll be the saddest to leave? Oh my gosh, the people, for sure. I just love the people. Alyssa Glover was talking about this, how the best thing about Davidson is that you can walk twenty feet and see someone you know, and the worst thing is that you can walk twenty feet and see someone you know. But for me I feel like I’ve really built a nice community around here with all ages, backgrounds, and walks of life, since we’re all just forced to be together. I’m such an extrovert, so I love walking out of my room and seeing everyone. And the people here are all so smart and so driven, and everyone has such an incredible story to tell. I feel so privileged to be able to hear even a fraction of those stories.
Go-to study spot: Recently, the music library. And I love my study carrel on the second floor of the library, in between Jack MacDowell and Taylor Miller’s carrels. I love it when all three of us are there. Shoutout to them! I also like to study outside.
Favorite place on campus: Definitely the pathway walking up to Chambers where DCPC and Watson are on the right. The trees just frame it so nicely and campus looks great from that angle. But also, I love the Rare Book Room. And I’ve put a lot of thought into this, and I think that if I could live anywhere else on campus besides my apartment, I would like to live in the Rare Book Room. I think I could have a lot of fun soirees there. I got my photo taken there twice.
The Rare Book Room photos won’t come out on time for this article, but happy belated birthday Betsy!
One thing everyone should do on campus: Get to know the librarians and the archivists! They have such great stories.
How did you get to know them? So this past year I wanted to come in and be a really intimidating senior girl. That was my goal. And then I helped out with orientation week this year with the library orientation. I ended up introducing the new freshmen class to the library. A lot of freshmen called me “library girl” after that, and I was like, no, I wanted to be intimidating!
Strangest place she’s kissed someone at Davidson: Maybe the SAE basement? No, on top of Commons, definitely. Oh, I’m blushing.
Favorite memory: I really love the time in spring semester in between exams and graduation. I’m one of the last people on campus every year because of Honor Council, so buildings will be locked and I will still be out packing. It’s like summer camp. Or, Noelle Smith and I led the LeConte backpacking trip with DO this Easter break. I hope that everyone goes on a DO trip before graduating. Put that on the Davidson bucket list.
Hanging out on the trail.
What’s left on your Davidson bucket list: I heard there’s a way to get on top of Chambers. I would love to do that. And I’ve never gotten coffee with Carol Quillen, but I can do that this summer.
Please never graduate Betsy!
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